


The Fairest of Them All

by wherever_i_may_roam



Series: Twin Flames [2]
Category: Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Beauty Pageants, Confusion, Crossdressing, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Growing Up Together, Internalized Homophobia, Jealousy, M/M, Slow Burn, Twincest, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherever_i_may_roam/pseuds/wherever_i_may_roam
Summary: Zack and Cody want new bikes but can't afford them. A beauty pageant comes to the Tipton and Cody impersonates a contestant. Zack takes advantage of this and convinces him to stay in so they could use the prize money. Cody makes a friend in Rebecca and wants her to win. After Zack sees Cody in his dress things get a bit awkward. Especially when Zack starts having weird feelings for his brother.
Relationships: Cody Martin/Zack Martin
Series: Twin Flames [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854382
Kudos: 23





	The Fairest of Them All

“Mom, please!” Zack and Cody whine at their mom, entering the hotel lobby entrance. They had just come from the park across the street.

“Guys, what’s wrong with your old bikes? They’re still perfectly good.” Carey asks, turning around to look at them.

“Mom, they’re tricycles,” Zack says.

“Guys, I’m sorry, but we can’t afford bikes right now. I mean it’s that or food.” Zack and Cody look at each other excitedly. Bikes are way more important than food and it’s not like they haven’t picked out of the garbage for food before. “No, forget I gave you that option,” she says, sternly before walking over to the candy counter.

“Great! Now we’re stuck here with nothing to do. I mean, this is probably the most boring hotel in the history of boring hotels,” Zack says, grudgingly. Cody watches as girl after girl flood the lobby behind Zack. 

“Zack? Why don’t you look behind you?” Cody grabs his shoulders and spins him around. Zack’s mouth drops open, and Cody rolls his eyes.

“I love this hotel!” Zack exclaims. “Wow. It’s like Christmas.”

“Oh, get ahold of yourself,” Cody says, bitterly. “They’re just girls.”

A blonde woman and her adolescent daughter push their way through to check-in. “Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.”

“Excuse us. Excuse us,” The young blonde says, pushing others out of her way.

“Excuse me? I need to speak to the manager right away.” the older woman says, ringing the bell before Moseby, obnoxiously.

“Marion Moseby at your service,” Mr. Moseby says with a false kindness.

“Well, Maryann,” she says, irritating Mr. Moseby. “My Brianna is the odds-on favorite to win this year’s universal Mini-miss Beauty Pageant.”

“I’ve already started working on your special requests.” Mr. Moseby brings out a piece of paper containing a list and pursues to read from it. “Hot rollers, high wattage make-up mirror and a bucket of fried possum fingers,” Mr. Moseby says, trying to keep a straight face.

“Thank you,” she says, appreciatingly. There’s a loud honk from outside that distracts Brianna’s mom. “Oh, excuse me. My house is double parked.”

“Remind me to count the towels in her room,” Mr. Moseby says to his assistant manager with a grin.

“All right! Moseby booked a beauty pageant,” Zack says, excitedly. 

“I wish we could just go up and talk to them,” Cody says, forlornly.

“Hello. We can,” Zack says, candidly. “Watch and learn little brother.” Zack walks over to the blonde girl from earlier. Cody watches with a frown and crosses his arms, waiting for Zack to strikeout. “So, if I guess your name, do I win a kiss?” Zack says with a flirty smile.

“Aw, you’re so adorable,” Brianna coos, “... and so completely out of your league.” She walks away with a disgusted look on her face. 

Cody smirks at the dumbfounded look on Zack’s face. That didn’t exactly go as Zack had hoped. And now he just looks like an idiot. “Smooth,” Cody grins, teasingly.

“I hate beauty pageants,” Maddie says, slouched over the candy counter, leaning on her fist.

Carey’s leaning against the counter with her elbow resting upon it. “I know. I never won one either,” she says, resentfully.

“The point is, they reward girls for being shallow, plastic robots,” Maddie says, disgusted. “What kind of superficial airhead thinks that’s cool?”

“Isn’t this cool?” London says, excitedly, stepping out of the elevator. She’s dressed in a black gown, a tiara upon her head, a sash across her bodice, and elegant white gloves, coming up mid elbow. Perfect for a beauty pageant queen.

Maddie smirks. “Oh, that kind,” she says, obviously.

“Look, everyone, it’s London,” a blonde woman, in a pink blazer says. “Miss Mini-miss 1999.” All the girls applaud for London, as she gives them a pageant wave. She puts on a plastic grin, cups her fingers, and sways her forearm from side to side.

“ _Bonjour_ pageant pretties,” A flamboyant man, with a Brad Delson haircut says. 

“Oh, no,” Carey says in shock. She grabs Mr. Moseby and hides behind him. 

“What- What are you doing?” Mr. Moseby says, startled.

“I know that guy. We were rivals on the cruise ship circuit.” She uses Mr. Moseby to get across the lobby, hiding behind him. “He’s the lowest, most despicable creep I’ve ever known in my entire life,” she says, despicably.

“Carey!” Tim says, surprised, seeing her run off towards the ballroom. Carey spins on her heel at the sound of her name.

“Tim!” Carey says with great enthusiasm.

“Carey!” Tim says with thrilled recognition.

“Tim!” Carey replies just the same. They each give each other air kisses in greeting.

“Carey, you look...” He takes his sunglasses off to get a better look at her. “Ugh,” he says, disgustingly, but switches back on a fake smile. “... Incredible!” Carey keeps a smile on her face no matter how much she wants to deck him. “What are you doing here?”

“I work here,” she says, hysterically.

“Ah, good for you. There’s no shame in being a maid,” Tim says, in a disrespectful jeering manner. “I’m the host of this pageant.”

“Actually, I’m the headliner here. They’ve given me a suite for me and my boys,” Carey rejoices.

“Oh, yes. I heard you had kids.” He looks over her in a disapproving manner. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your figure back.”

“I love your hair. Did you buy or lease it?” She gibes back.

He touches his fro and says, blatantly. “It was a gift.”

“So, you like video games?” Zack says to two girls passing by and they laugh at him before walking away. Cody’s sitting on the banister in front of the entrance of the hotel lobby doors. He closes his eyes briefly at Zack’s ignorance. He jumps off the banister to stand next to Zack. “There was no connection.” He points quickly between him and the girls. There was no connection because you’re standing next to your twin. And everybody knows twins are soulmates, you dolt. Cody just had to end up with the one guy who doesn’t even know he exists. “Ooh. But I think Mini-miss Rhode Island’s making eyes at me,” Zack says before running over to flirt with another girl. He’s almost hit on every girl in this room already and it’s barely been 10 minutes. How can Cody get his attention with all these girls around?

Cody sighs, longingly. “He’ll never even notice me,” he says before turning around, ready to just get out of there. He can’t stand another minute watching Zack flirt with every girl he sees. When he turns though, he bumps into a tall brunette.

“Hi,” she says, kindly with a sweet smile.

“Oh hi. Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” Cody replies. He notices she dropped her bag and offers to help her.

“Oh, that’s really nice of you, but I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” she says, unsure.

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m not that strange. I’m Cody.”

“I’m Rebecca,” she introduces.

“So are you here for the beauty pageant?” he asks, nonchalantly.

“Yeah!” she says excitedly. “This is my fifth time. There’s a prize of $2,000 if I win.” She sees her mom checking in, so she picks up her bag. “Well, I’ll see you later.”

$2,000 huh? That’s a lot of money. Enough money to get 2 bikes. In which, Zack would love him for. Cody’s not prone to disapprove in drag. When he was little he used to dress up in his mom’s heels and practice putting on makeup. So what if he could somehow get in the beauty pageant and win the $2,000? That would for sure get Zack to notice him. How hard can it be?

“Okay. This thing is a total washout,” Zack says, coming up behind Cody. “The girls are all stuck up, phony- Oh, hey! Maybe I’ll have a shot with lil miss sunshine over there,” he says, seeing Rebecca at the check-in desk. Zack strides over to talk to Rebecca, but Mr. Moseby stops him by the arm.

“Not so fast,” Mr. Moseby says. “Now, these young ladies are here for a very important competition. Which happens to bring in a lot of money to this hotel. They did not come here to be harassed by tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber.”

“But I just wanted to talk to her,” Zack says, making Cody roll his eyes.

“Nope, nope, nope. Nip. Nin,” Mr. Moseby cuts him off. “There will be no fraternizing with the contestants or I will have your mother confine you to your hotel suite. Now, these people are here as our guests. We must treat them like royalty.”

“Maryann, where can I dump my porta-potty?” Brianna’s mom asks, walking by.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to help the queen with her throne,” Mr. Moseby says, forebodingly.

* * *

“How much longer do we have to wait here?” Zack asks, impatiently.

“Until I can figure out a way to get in there with anybody seeing me. Trust me, I have a plan,” Cody says, intently.

“Which you still haven’t told me about. Cody, what are we doing here?”

“Good day,” Mr. Moseby’s voices from around the corner.

“Uh, oh. Moseby alert,” Zack says, franticly.

“Oh, no. He’s gonna see us fraternizing.” Cody quickly looks around for a hiding spot before covering his eyes with his hands.

“What are you, 5? Quick. Hide in here.” Zack grabs his hand and pulls him into the dressing room hiding in a bar stock of clothes. Luckily, nobody saw them.

“Oh, Tyreesha, in this dress you are bound to win,” Tyreesha’s mom says, holding up a satin red gown with a white skirt, embedded with jewels.

“No, I quit. I’m sick of beauty pageants. I’m going to science camp,” Tyreesha replies, exasperated. She throws the dress down and marches out of the dressing room.

“Where did I go wrong? Tyreesha!” Her mom hollers, walking after her.

Cody looks out from the shelter of the clothing and steps out, determined. Zack looks at him, alarmed. He has no idea what Cody is thinking. He’s gonna get caught. And then they’ll both be in trouble. “What are you doing?” he whispers, astonished.

“Oh, ladies. Knock knock. Man in the house,” Mr. Moseby announces from down the hall. Cody quickly sits in a dressing chair, pulls a short blonde wig over his head, and drapes Tyreesha’s dress over his body, averting his eyes. This way, Mr. Moseby won’t be able to recognize him. Or so he hopes.

“Come on in. We’re decent,” Brianna’s mom says.

“Splendid. Splendid.”

“Y’know, these rose-colored candies are horrible,” she says, taking a small ruby object out of her mouth and showing Mr. Moseby.

“That’s soap, madam,” he says with a calm face.

“Well, then they’re pretty damn good.” She pops the soap back in her mouth.

“Almost showtime, girls. Come on, come on, come on, my little beauties. Come on,” the pageant host announces. “Young lady, why aren’t you in your dress?” She asks Cody, who had tried to hide himself even more from sight.

“Uh,” Cody mumbles.

“Number 11. You’re in the first group,” she says, dismayed. “Ahh, is that a hair on your lip?”

“I hope so!” Cody says, getting up and looking in the mirror.

“We’ll just pull that right out.”

“No. Come on. That’s my only one,” Cody says, trying to squirm away from the tweezers coming near his face.

* * *

“Thank you, Tiffany. Our modeling competition continues, ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome number 11, Miss Tyreesha Jones,” Tim says, reading off a pink card. Cody stumbles out, wearing Tyreesha’s dress, white heels, and pearls. His lips are colored red, and he’s wearing dark eyeshadow and mascara. Cody puts on a brave face and smiles before strutting down the catwalk. He trips over himself briefly and smiles nervously, hoping nobody noticed.

“Tyreesha enjoys marine biology, double dutch, and her hero is George Washington... Carver.”

Zack enters through the double doors to the ballroom. His eyes grow wide when he sees Cody. At least he thinks it’s Cody. Cody blows kisses at the audience and Zack can’t help but think how pretty Cody looks in that dress. No. Nope. Zack is not going there. He will not think about Cody in a dress. How can he not think about Cody in a dress? He’s right there.

“Holy crap! Cody? What is he doing?” Zack gets flustered, watching Cody. He looks to his right to see a sign declaring the prize money for the winner. Zack’s eyes widen, comically. “$2000?! He’s a genius! Yay, Tyreesha! You go, girl!” Zack hollers at him, jumping in excitement. Cody points at him and winks, flirtatiously. Cody struts back down the catwalk but turns and bends at the waist, voluptuously. He turns to leave the stage but not before pointing at Tim and giving him a ‘call me’ gesture. Zack runs out of the ballroom, needing to speak to Cody right away. Cody runs back into the dressing room, slightly embarrassed. Rebecca stops him with a grin, holding a bouquet.

“Oh, Tyreesha! You were great! I can’t believe I’ve never seen you before.”

“Thanks. I-I-I’m new to this,” Cody says in a sweet voice, an octave higher than normal.

“And I’m sure no one noticed you trip,” Brianna drawls from behind Cody. “And Rebecca, your dress is so darlin.' It’s just long enough to hide your scrawny little chicken legs.”

“Hey, why can’t we all just be nice to each other?” Cody asks, stepping between Rebecca and Brianna.

“You are new,” Brianna says, ludicrously before walking away.

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” Rebecca says with a sweet smile. “Everyone else has been kind of mean. Except for the person who sent me these flowers. But they didn’t sign the card.”

“Well whoever it is, I’m sure they’ll turn up.”

“Hello...” Zack says, bounding up to Cody and Rebecca. He looks Cody up and down. Cody looks away, blushing, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ladies.”

“Rebecca, you- you remember my brother Cody.”

“Huh?” Zack says, caught off guard.

“Cody. You’re Cody,” Cody states. Zack looks on with realization in his eyes.

“Right. I’m Cody. I see you got my flowers,” Zack says, pointing at the bouquet in Rebecca’s arms.

“Flowers?” Cody says, with a frown. _When did Zack give her flowers?_

“Oh! These are from you? Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

“My daughter is twice as pretty as your daughter,” Brianna’s mom voices on the other side of the dressing room.

“Ah! You bit me!” Rebecca’s mom screeches.

“Ooh, mom’s in a catfight. I gotta go hold her earrings.” Rebecca says, walking off, apprehensively.

Zack turns to Cody, looking him up and down. “Look, you were so hot out there,” Zack says to Cody, passionately.

Cody let’s out a small gasp, blushing madly. _Did he just say I was hot?_ Cody feels like a warmth from a candle being lit in his chest. Okay so maybe this can work. Cody just has to keep getting Zack’s attention. “Oh, you really think so?” He looks at his dress briefly.

“Yeah, you have a chance to win the prize money.”

And there goes that light. Okay, this was a terrible idea.

“Oh right. The prize money,” Cody says, forlornly. He’s only noticing him because he looks like a girl. That’s all this is. Cody was only doing this for the money, but he didn’t realize Zack would end up looking at him like that. The way Cody looks at him. But it means nothing. Because Zack’s not looking at him as himself he’s looking at him as Tyreesha and that just makes this worse. To make matters more distressful, girls' clothing is the utter most uncomfortable and painful attire he’s ever had to wear. And that’s including the elf costumes Grandma Esther always makes them wear every Christmas. “Look, Zack, I don’t think I can do it. These heels are killing me and my pantyhose are riding up,” Cody says, trying to pull his tights back up.

“Who cares about your female problems? Think about the money. Think about the bikes. You can’t drop out of this pageant.” Cody glares at him. That’s all Zack thinks about is the bikes. Not how Cody feels. Cody was doing this for Zack, but now he’s just being selfish.

“Forget it!” Cody yells at him.

“He’s right. You can’t leave,” Rebecca says from behind Cody. “This pageant is like a shark tank. I need you to help me get through this.” Rebecca grabs Cody’s hand endearingly. Cody looks at Zack to find him glaring at Rebecca.

Cody sighs, defeated. “Okay, I’m in.” Zack does a victory dance.

“Hug!” Rebecca exclaims, holding her arms out. Zack gets in her way and puts his arms tight around Cody before Rebecca could. He rests his head in the crook of Cody’s neck. Cody wraps his arms behind Zack’s back and smiles at him, warmly. Rebecca laughs behind Zack, shaking her head, affectionately. Cody wishes Zack would never let go.

* * *

“Boy, eyeshadow’s tough to get off,” Cody says to Zack in their suite, coming out of the bathroom in a blue bathrobe. He was rubbing his eyes vigorously with a wet washcloth.

“Cause you use too much. Which, by the way, makes you look a little cheap.” Cody continues to rub the eyeshadow off his face as he glares at Zack for calling him cheap. “Now, I have a great idea for the talent competition,” Zack says, holding a pink sweater and rolling it over with a lint roller to make it look perfect for tomorrow’s competition. The phone rings and Zack sets the sweater down, answering the phone with a monotone voice before he realizes it’s Rebecca. “Oh, hi, Rebecca.”

“Is Tyreesha there?” Rebecca asks from the phone.

“Give me that,” Cody says, trying to reach for the phone from Zack’s outstretched hand.

“Oh, Reesha!” Zack yells before letting Cody grab the phone.

“Oh, hi, Rebecca. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I have to work overtime to look as good as you do,” Cody giggles, his voice an octave higher. Zack rolls his eyes at him where he’s checking over Cody’s sweater.

“You’re so sweet. Listen, Brianna’s having a slumber party tonight and asked me to invite you. It’d be so much more fun if you were there. Wanna come?” Rebecca says excitedly.

“A slumber party?”

Cody says, thinking about it. Zack was a jerk earlier, and Rebecca seems really nice. If Zack only cares about the bikes, then Cody can at least make a friend in Rebecca.

Zack immediately stops messing with Cody’s sweater. “No. Absolutely not. I’m putting my foot down.”

“I’ll be there,” Cody announces, not caring one moment about what Zack thinks. He hangs up the phone.

“Clearly you don’t understand the foot down concept.”

“Rebecca’s my friend. If I have to do this stupid pageant, I’m going to have fun.” Cody gets up from the couch to stand in front of Zack.

“Yeah, how fun. Playing pillow fight with a bunch of girls,” Zack says, spitefully. “You’re gonna blow your cover and our chance to get new bikes.”

“Tyreesha can do it.”

“No, Tyreesha, can’t,” Zack mocks, making his voice squeaky and high.

“Who’s Tyreesha?” Carey asks, coming through the door. Cody hides his sweater behind a throw pillow and sits next to Zack on the couch, nonchalantly.

“Um, the new weather girl on tv. She’s always wrong. 40% humidity. I don’t think so.”

Carey leans over, looking at the black screen on the tv. “The tv’s not on.”

“Yeah, that’s cause we turned it off. W-we’re sick of her lies,” Zack says, dubiously.

“Okay.” Carey let’s it go. “What do you guys have planned for tonight?"

“Um, um, I’m sleeping over at Tapeworm’s,” Cody says.

“You’re not?” She asks Zack.

“Uh, no, we had a fight,” he answers.

“You and Tapeworm?”

“Me and Zack,” Cody pitches in. 

Carey leans down to get a good look at Cody’s face. “You wearing lipstick?” Cody looks at his brother helplessly.

“That’s what the fight was about. Uh, I put lipstick on him while he was taking a nap."

“That wasn’t very nice,” she says to Zack and then to Cody, “And that’s not your shade.”

“I told you,” Zack whispers to Cody, and he scowls back at him.

* * *

Cody drags his suitcase to Brianna’s suite for the slumber party. Zack made it known that he was sorely against Cody going. Cody ignored his brother though, favoring going to the slumber party, instead. Zack gets to flirt with all the contestants- including himself- while he’s the one doing all the hard work. He can at least make some friends. Cody rings the doorbell to the suite. Brianna’s mom answers the door, wearing a small lilac towel on her head.

“Oh, look, girls. It’s little Tyreeta,” Brianna’s mom says.

“Tyreesha,” Cody corrects.

“Like it matters,” she says, heedlessly. “Oh, honey, there’s a tray out there with half a steak on it. I’ll be right back.”

"You’re just in time. We’re playing what you want to be when you grow up,” Rebecca says to Cody, sitting in the middle of the floor with all the other girls.

“Okay. Me next,” Brianna calls. She sits in a chair and strikes a pose swinging her red feather boa scarf behind her back. “A supermodel.”

“Tyreesha, what do you wanna be?” Rebecca asks Cody.

“Oh, I’m gonna be a hockey player,” Cody says in a gruff voice. All the girls turn to look at him weirdly. “Uh, or a princess. Whichever pays better,” Cody says with a higher voice, smiling and gushing. The girls nod, approvingly. “Rebecca?”

“I wanna open a free animal hospital for underprivileged pets.”

“I think that’s beautiful,” Cody says, amazed.

“Thanks. I need to start saving for vet school now.” Rebecca lowers voice to a whisper. “That’s the only reason why I’m doing the pageant. What about you?” 

“Oh, I’m doing it to buy some bikes.” Rebecca stares at Cody blankly, waiting. “For underprivileged pets.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet. It’s so great that we can do this together.”

“Hug,” Cody says, extending his arms. The doorbell rings behind Cody. Brianna hollers she’ll be right there before London opens the door herself, wearing a satin robe over her pajamas, along with her tiara and sash.

“Don’t bother, darlings. I own the place.”

“London!” Cody exclaims before he hides underneath his camouflaged sleeping bag. He can’t let her see him like this.

“I got the candy counter girl to bring us some snacks,” London says, walking into the suite.

Maddie enters, carrying a tray of sweets with a sour expression on her face before smiling sarcastically. “Thank you for introducing me, but I do have an actual name. It’s Maddie.” The girls ignore her and focus back on London.

“London, what did you want to be when you were little,” one of the girls ask.

“I wanted to be an heiress, and I did it. Yay, me!” She applauds and the girls join her.

“You must be so proud. It takes a special kind of person to be born rich,” Maddie says.

London gasps, softly. “Thank you.” Maddie rolls her eyes at her idiocy.

“What are you doing in there?” Rebecca tries to take Cody’s sleeping bag off his head, where he is still hiding.

“Um, putting on night creme. It has to be applied in the dark,” Cody laughs, gently and Rebecca shrugs.

“You know, girls, pageants have their place, but looks aren’t everything. I mean, there’s education and reading, museums, becoming a well-rounded person.” Maddie’s words fall on deaf ears.

“Do you know Orlando Bloom?” The girl from before asks London.

London scoffs. “Of course.”

“Orlando Bloom likes smart girls. I know he does. I just know it!” Maddie runs out of the suite.

“He doesn’t,” London says. Cody tries to worm his way out the open door, still in his sleeping bag. He runs into a chair, unfortunately and groans in pain. “So, as returning to royalty, the judge has honored me with some confidential information I’m not supposed to tell. So, here it is.” Cody army crawls out the door while everyone is preoccupied with London, without being seen.

“Is it about Orlando Bloom?”

London snaps her fingers together like a crab before speaking. “London’s talking. So, after today’s events, it seems the 3 front runners in the contest are Brianna-”

“Yes!” Brianna exclaims.

“No surprise. Rebecca.” Rebecca claps her hands excitedly. “Duh. And someone named Tyreesha,” London says, confused. Everyone looks in the spot Cody had just occupied to find it vacant. They look around confusedly. Brianna’s mom enters the suite holding a pyramid of toilet paper.

“Brianna, honey, look, the maid left the cart out in the hall. We are set for the next 3 months.” Brianna gives her a grin with 2 thumbs up.

* * *

  
Cody’s brushing his blonde wig in the girls dressing room. His mom was singing for the opening act of the beauty pageant and he’s pretty sure she recognized him. He’s hiding out for now. If he’s lucky, he can make it through the talent act without her noticing. Cody hears Rebecca’s soft voice behind him. Cody brush catches on his wig and he grabs it to make sure it doesn’t come off in front of Rebecca before standing up to meet her.

“I just wanted to say good luck. I hope you win the pageant, Tyreesha.”

“No, you deserve to win. You’re beautiful and unselfish, and I’ve never seen anyone juggle while baking a cake,” Cody replies, amused.

“You’re so sweet. If you were a boy, I’d kiss you,” she gushes.

“That’s nice of you, Rebecca. Hold the lips, though.” They both laugh and Rebecca goes back out on stage and Cody sits back down in front of the makeup mirror, touching up his lipstick.  
Zack passes Rebecca, turning back to glare at her. He looks around the dressing room to make sure there weren’t any other girls around. He hurries over to Cody, excited.

“Dude, those bikes are ours. You are so gonna win this thing,” Zack exclaims to Cody.

“No, I’m not,” Cody says, dejected.

Zack frowns. “You need to have more confidence. You’re beautiful, and way more talented than those other girls.“

Cody smiles and blushes before saying, “Thanks Zack, but I’m throwing the competition. Rebecca needs the prize money for vet school.” Cody gets in front of Zack. There he goes about Rebecca again. Zack is tired of hearing about her. And now he’s going to throw the competition for her. She is so not worth the bikes.

“We’ve gone through too much for you to ruin this now,” Zack says, exasperated.

“We?” Cody says, incredulously. “I’m the one wearing the dress.”

“And you’ve never looked better.” Zack honestly thinks Cody looks good in the dress, which weirds him out. Especially when he gets all mad like that. It makes him look kinda… _Dude, gross. That’s your brother._ As soon as the pageant is over, Cody will be out of the dress and things will be back to normal. He’s only feeling this way because Cody looks like a girl. That’s all. There’s no way he has feelings for his _brother_.

Cody glares at Zack, crossing his arms. “Well, you better take a good last look, cause I’m about to take it off for good.” Cody pushes his shoulder against Zack’s walking past him.

“I can't believe you’re gonna let some girl come between us. You are not throwing this competition,” Zack says, exasperated. He’s unable to look Cody in the eye, settling on the black headband in his wig.

“Try and stop me, pal.”

“Well, then take off the dress cause I can’t hit a woman,” Zack says, walking closer to Cody, menacingly. Cody glares at him. He can barely feel the warmth of Zack breath on his face. That’s how close he is. And it’s making Cody oddly flustered. Zack doesn’t want to hurt Cody, but all he cares about is that stupid girl. If he’s not going to do the competition Zack will.

“Make me,” Cody sneers. Zack takes another step forward, making Cody stumble a little. Zack looks at Cody’s lips once before he grabs his head forces him to the ground getting on top of him. Cody’s wig falls off and Zack pushes his head against the floor, trying to get the dress off. “Zack, get off me!” Cody struggles, but his brother is stronger. Zack grabs at the zipper, snagging it on the dress and ripping it. “Zack, stop!” As soon as Zack gets the dress off, he pushes Cody into a small clothes closet and locks it.

“Zack, let me out of here!” Cody says, angrily, banging on the door.

Cody can’t believe Zack. That he would stoop so low just to get the money. Well, he can believe it a little bit. Zack’s never tried to hurt him before though. And all for a couple of bikes. Cody’s eyes well up a little bit. He blinks, fighting the urge away. He’s left alone in the dark. By the one person he thought would always keep him in the light. His light is slowly going out, and he doesn’t know how much more he’ll take.

* * *

  
“And, now, please welcome Tyreesha Jones performing an aria from Bizet’s Carmen,” Tim announces before a note is being handed to him from backstage. “Oh, I’m sorry here. There’s been a program change. Tyreesha will be demonstrating a brand new talent.” The curtains are drawn and Zack rolls down a ramp with a skateboard. He’s padded with a helmet and knee pads. He’s also wearing the outfit that Zack had picked out for Cody. A pink fur sweater over a black and pink knitted dress with black tights and pink sneakers. Cody’s wig is atop his head hidden underneath his helmet. Zack skates up the short ramp, down, and off the stage. He jumps over the judges and through the audience before making it back on the stage. “Ty-riffic,” Tim shouts.

In the dressing room, Cody is still banging on the closet door to be let out. A young girl from the pageant lets him out. Cody comes out of the closet, pushing articles of clothing and scarves off of him. He grunts in annoyance. “Where’s Zack?” He yells at the innocent girl.

“Who?” She asks, confused, not knowing who Zack is. 

Cody figures Zack took his place, so he says, affronted, “Tyreesha.”

“She’s out there.” She points to the stage.

Cody runs out on stage, clad in his underwear. Cody pushes Zack down right there on the stage and gets on top of him. Everybody gasps mid-cheer.

“You’re ruining Rebecca’s chance at the crown,” Cody says, angrily at Zack.

“You’re ruining our chance for new bikes.” Zack pushes Cody over, reversing their positions.

“I don’t care about the bikes. I care about Rebecca.”

“Well, I don’t,” Zack says, exasperated and Cody pushes them back over.

“That’s because you only think of yourself.” Zack pushes his brother off him, and Cody knocks his helmet and wig off his head. Everybody in the audience gasps again.

“What is going on?” Carey yells at them, coming on stage, holding an ice pack.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Your boys are attempting to destroy my hotel, but with a new twist. One of them’s wearing a dress,” Mr. Moseby says, having seen the entire dispute on stage.

“What in the day-long dickens is going on?” The pageant show host says, stricken with anger.

“I don’t know which one of you is Tyreesha, but she or he is disqualified,” Tim remarks lowering himself to the boys’ height.

Rebecca grabs the front of Zack’s shirt and gets in his face. “You’re a boy?”

Cody grabs Zack’s shoulders back towards him and says to him, surprised but also still annoyed. “You’re a boy?”

“Very funny! You guys are such jerks,” Rebecca says, mortified, standing up, and running off the stage. Zack looks at Cody, guiltily, noticing all the damage he’s caused. Cody glares at him.

“Zack, why are you wearing a skirt?” Carey asks.

“I did it so we could win money for bikes,” Zack replies guiltily.

* * *

“Hey, man. You ok?” Zack asks, Cody, comfortingly, finding him in the hotel lobby. He’s been feeling bad ever since the pageant. He didn’t mean to hurt Cody or Rebecca. Cody was right. He was selfish. He didn’t want to lose his brother though. Especially to some girl.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry I… ruined things with Rebecca. I guess I was just being a selfish, jealous, greedy goofball.“

“You were... jealous?” Cody blinks.

“What?” _Fuck, I didn’t mean to say that._

“You said you were jealous.”

“No, I didn’t.” 

“Yes, you did.” 

“Did all that makeup get to your head?” Cody smiles. “Are we cool?”

“Yeah, we’re cool. I can’t believe a girl would be more useful than a bike.”

“It’s okay. We all make mistakes.” Zack laughs, happy him and his brother are on the right side again.

“Well, I’m never making that mistake again. For now on, it’s just me and you.”

“I like the sound of that.” Zack’s grinning at Cody until he sees Rebecca walking towards them. Cody sees the foul look on his brother’s face and turns to see Rebecca behind him.

“Cody, can I talk to you?” Rebecca asks, holding a bouquet and wearing a tiara on her head. Cody looks at Zack who’s still standing there, glaring at Rebecca. Cody nods his head to the right and Zack rolls his eyes, walking away.

“Hi, Rebecca. Nice tiara. I’m glad you won,” Cody says, slightly crestfallen.

“Thanks to you. I heard you tried to throw the competition for me. I shouldn’t have called you a jerk."

“It’s okay.”

“Well, I guess this is goodbye.“

“Yeah, bye. It was nice getting to know you, Rebecca.“

“You too, Cody.”


End file.
